Our Urban Town a Publication of the Staten Island Urban CenterOur Urban Town is a quarterly publication that shares thought provoking, intellectually provocative, community news, ideas and opinions from Staten Island's urban neighborhoods.

#reSIStah issue​in celebration of women's history month

​the Woke reSIStah Issue Our Urban Town publishes thought provoking ideas, intellectually provocative reflections, community news, and opinions from the very people in the community who passionately live and/or work with these issues. In this Woke ReSistah Issue, Our Urban Town shares the writings of women activists on Staten Island as a tribute to the contributions of women right now in this borough. Due to space constraints, these are just a small sample of women activists doing the work on the island, but our hope is that these writings inspire readers to be or continue to be activists, to share real stories, advocate for real solutions and to fight for real for the things they believe in. In the era of WOKE and RESIST, it’s our time to be activists everywhere we go and in everything we do.Kelly Vilar,​Editor of Our Urban Town & ​CEO of Staten Island Urban Center

Who opens a small business as the country is just emerging from a staggering recession, selling something that is out of the mainstream, in a storefront that has a long history of failed businesses on a street where there’s NO parking, just days after hurricane Sandy decimated the community? I DO!!! And while there are many challenges of being a stakeholder on Bay Street, I love owning a business in the neighborhood!

Being the owner of Honor Wines is sort of my dream job. I get to create my own homey work environment, share my passion for hospitality with my neighbors in the community, many of whom have now become my friends and, elevate the image and expectations of what tourists, fellow New Yorkers and even other Staten Islanders perceive about my neighborhood. Let’s face it, a family-run, boutique wine shop with a focus on organic and traditional wines run by two educated, native Staten Island-film nerds with progressive leanings, flies in the face of the mobbed-up oafs the media is comfortable assuming Staten Islanders to be. Some of our fellow Staten Islanders have questioned the safety and economic viability of Bay Street and we are happy that we have changed perceptions enough to have become a retail destination now for many customers from all over the island in addition to our loyal core North Shore locals.

Original stakeholders like; the St. George Theater, Enoteca, Beso, Electric Hair, Gavel Grill, ETG Clothing, 120 Bay, and others on Hyatt Street, Bay Street and Stuyvesant Street have anchored the business community and have laid track for Honor Wines as well as for new neighbors like; Pier 76, Hard Hat Café, Flagship Brewery and more neighbors coming our way on Minthorne Ave. However, there is a dire need, (and plenty of room!) for more complementing small businesses in order to make the Bay Street area really bustle! In order to do that, a long hard look needs to be given to parking, street safety and perception around Bay Street, Hyatt Ave and Stuyvesant Ave.

Changing the culture of parking entitlements from city agencies so that customers can park easily and stroll safely, is essential to the economic health of current businesses as well as the ability to attract new small businesses. Daytime parking congestion on our streets prevent businesses from thriving and deters new businesses from considering the location as viable. Parking abuse and congestion is the number one economic challenge to my business. It appears to me, that it is easier to predict the success of the large neighborhood endeavors like the Wheel, Lighthouse Point, Outlet Malls and URBY than the more risky business of opening a small business on Bay Street. There is infrastructure and support for these large projects, which small businesses currently lack.

When parking and walking safety is on par with other successful Staten Island main street mainstays like Forest Ave and New Dorp Lane, we will see a quality and quantity of small businesses in the “downtown SI area” that will enhance our neighborhood, aesthetic and quality of life. I love my little slice of the street. And I’d love to have businesses around me that can nurture each other. And we are totally headed in that direction. But to create less hardship in an already tough market, the culture of doing business as usual at the expense of the small business owner, has to change.

Just as a matter of logistics, I understand and sympathize with the plight of a small business owner trying to prosper in 2017 in a location designed for a mix of foot and auto traffic at a time when Staten Island, and the North Shore, were significantly less populous and private cars were fewer in number, roadways less congested, and parking spaces more readily available.

I think municipal employees' as-of-right parking privileges deserve to be contested. Are they royalty? Or a class of people with special parking needs? Why, for example, can't they park in our spanking-new municipal parking garage at a reduced rate, or at no fee, making street parking more available for those who patronize local restaurants, shops, and even government offices?

If that effort proves too politically difficult, how about getting the Chamber of Commerce to urge Borough Hall, and the Department of Transportation, to offer free or reduced-rate parking at our new St. George parking garage to drivers who can produce a proof-of-purchase receipt, with time and date, showing they patronized a local business?

The pols say they want to encourage to new business development. I say let them prove it by being even-handed. Not just tax breaks and easements for hotel chains and big-box stores; but a willingness to bend the rules or invent new ones that make it possible for businesses of all types and sizes to thrive.

Reply

Ken Tirado

2/25/2017 06:04:47 pm

The parking issue seems insurmountable. It is very much a culture of entitlement. It would be like trying to eliminate the "blue wall of silence". They take care of their own. Period. The Chamber of Commerce will not take sides on this. They do very little to advocate for small business. They certainly don't stick their necks out into anything that will cause controversy.